


the one that felt like a Coppola

by nausicaa_of_phaeacia



Series: what could have been [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Season/Series 03, Prompt Fic, byebyehiatus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 05:56:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8044945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nausicaa_of_phaeacia/pseuds/nausicaa_of_phaeacia
Summary: Daisy and Coulson on a safehouse couch. Also, basically nothing happens.





	the one that felt like a Coppola

**Author's Note:**

> Another tiny thing for the #byebyehiatus mini-fest.  
> Sorry for slaughtering the prompt (which was [SKOULSON CUDDLES]).

It’s not easy, keeping it a secret from the Director. The official search for Quake is still ongoing, and judging by the political situation, it won’t be over anytime soon (actually, things are getting worse in terms of law enforcement standards and surveillance).

Thinking about it, they haven’t even met that often. Of course, she’s been sending him coded messages (for the time being, she’s still able to beat federal cryptologists), but they’ve only met face-to-face three or four times. (Five, actually, if you count the time they bumped into each other in the middle of a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission and Daisy had to duck away immediately.)

Initially, he hadn’t wanted to find her. Okay, that’s not true: to show the agencies where she was by finding her. Personally, of course, he would have loved to be able to walk up to her and talk to her, maybe even have coffee together. In the end, it was her who reached out – maybe because he made sure he was leading every single mission to capture her, maybe because she understood he was deliberately withholding information, maybe just because she missed him (even though Coulson has given up thinking that of anyone quite some time ago).

Now they’re sitting on a safehouse couch, watching some crime series or other on TV, drinking herb tea and beer (at the same time, because with the safehouse not really in use, the heat hasn’t been turned on just because it’s a cold autumn). Every now and then, she looks at him, and their eyes meet. He tries really hard not to assign any special meaning to that, but it’s hard when she looks at him like this, no walls, no filter between them. After the first two episodes, she leans over and rests her head on his lap, making herself comfortable with the blanket draped around both of them. For a moment, he considers holding his breath.

He notices her fall asleep mid-episode but doesn’t dare to move. It’s obvious that she hasn’t been getting too much sleep lately, which, not really surprising. To be safe, he doesn’t turn off the TV, because that usually wakes people up, and decides to just sleep here, sitting on the couch with Daisy’s head on his thigh. 

He jerks awake at one point during the night, because Daisy’s moved. At first, he’s confused, because even though the TV’s still on, it’s pretty dark and he’s not sure what she’s doing. Then he realizes she’s slid off the couch onto a few pillows he’s pulled out from behind his back and put on the floor. Her arm is touching his feet. Since the wall and floors are pretty cold, he decides he can’t just let her sleep down there. He carefully extracts his toes from under her, tiptoes around her sleeping body, then lifts her up in one swift movement (not that he would really know, but he’s pretty sure she’s lost quite some weight lately) and carries her to the bedroom next door. 

Her body is limp, like any other sleeping person’s body, but as he sets her down on the bed, he could swear she’s sort of holding her head up. It makes him freeze for a moment, but since she doesn’t move again, he just pulls the blanket higher to cover her up to the chin. He considers walking back to the couch, turning off the TV and sleeping there, but the bed just looks so much larger, warmer and more comfortable than the tormented couch that he simply crawls into the bed. He tries his best to keep his distance, but as he’s adjusting the blanket, he accidentally touches her arm.

For a second, he’s scared he might have woken her up, but she looks the same as she did before, so he switches the lights off and tries not to think about anything (he’s been overthinking stuff a lot lately and depriving himself of sleep). Before he can get fully comfortable, though, Daisy shifts and turns, putting her arm across his chest. He’s afraid he’s going to wake her up, so he tries to remove her arm very carefully as this surely isn’t anything she would opt for when awake – but it only makes her sort of hug him and press her cheek against his shoulder.

He tries to find a way to turn her back to where she was before, but suddenly realizes she’s not really breathing. He almost panics, but –  
“Now I know you’re faking it.”  
It makes her burst out laughing. “ _Now_ you realize!”  
He’s blushing. Thank God it’s dark. “I wasn’t sure.”  
“What, you thought – you thought I’d be hugging you while asleep?”  
“I – I really don’t know.”  
Her laughter fades. “If it bothers you, I can –“  
“No! No. I mean – no, I’m very comfortable, actually. Are you ... are you comfortable?”  
He can hear her lips curl into a smile. “Yeah. It’s great.”  
She waits a bit for him to respond, but he doesn’t say anything. After a few minutes, though, he moves his arm to cover hers.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know what this was, but thanks for reading! :) Hope you liked it!


End file.
